ABSTRACT
From mental health services to education, from business to armed forces, meditation is presented as a technique that makes one a healthier, a more efficient, and even a better more compassionate human being. It is born out of a complex dialogue between Western Enlightenment values and Asian religious traditions, leading to two major waves of scientific interest in meditation: Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Mindfulness Meditation (MM). This chapter traces the history of the scientization of meditation and summarizes some key moments in the making of the science of meditation. It then moves on to argue that we have now reached a second alchemical moment in the relationship between science and meditation: the turning of this meditation science into a secular religion. Exploring the history of contemporary scientific endeavors in meditation requires an understanding of the complex and fascinating interplay of sociopolitical and religious forces that brought about these widespread assumptions about Asian religions, most notably Buddhism and Buddhist meditation.
